


It comes in waves

by 00FFFF



Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Aqua Scar!, Gen, Merman Scar, Non-human hermits - Freeform, Oneshot, season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27176342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00FFFF/pseuds/00FFFF
Summary: Scar gets stuck in Aqua Scar mode more often than he’d like to admit. How the other hermits haven’t noticed yet is beyond him.
Comments: 26
Kudos: 103
Collections: Non-human Hermits





	It comes in waves

Scar jumps off of the cliffside, shooting rockets and letting his elytra carry him through the air. He turns himself around swiftly (but not smoothly), and looks at his progress from a distance.

It’s really starting to shape up, he thinks. Just a couple more hours of work, and Impulse will never have to look at the horrible sight that is an unfinished cliffside ever again!

Pleased, Scar glides back towards the cliff, but a sudden shift in his weight sets him off-course, sending him halfway across the shopping district, the ground quickly getting closer and closer. He tries to angle himself right for as smooth a landing as he can manage, but before he knows it he hits the ground harshly, tumbling across for a few blocks before he comes to a standstill somewhere on the red netherbrick road.

At least... at least his elytra cushioned his landing. Somewhat.

Scar’s on his back, trying to catch his breath, which doesn’t seem to work too well. After a few moments he reluctantly opens his eyes.

He looks down at himself, and- yep. _Of course._ There’s his tail. Bright orange and details of light blue and green shimmering in the sunlight. Man, has it really been that long since he was last underwater?

Scar sighs, and rolls onto his stomach. Really, this is the _stupidest_ way of his body telling him that he needs water, he thinks. Sure, he ignores the signals sometimes, but that’s just because he’s always so busy building! When he’s in the flow like that, he can’t just take a break out of nowhere! 

Thinking back to it, Scar realizes that he should have seen this coming from miles away. He’d been drinking bottle after bottle of water, and his feet have been itchy all day, too. He figured it was just the new socks he got (they have little Jellie faces on them!), but that’s clearly not the case, seeing as he’s stuck in the middle of the shopping district now, his tail flopping up and down defeatedly.

In any case, he needs to get into the water. There’s no way in the world that he’s going to be able to take off with his elytra now, so he tries to crawl away. Scar digs his claws into the road, but dragging himself across the harsh road is not only incredibly arduous, but it also _hurts._ His scales are already dry as they are. Dangit, why couldn’t he have landed in the grass? Or transformed when he was inspecting his cliffside from above, you know, _the ocean?_

Defeated, Scar lays himself down, resting his head on his arms. At least there’s no one around, he thinks. He can die in peace and respawn with a message saying that he suffocated and no one will question a thing. It’d be so embarrassing if someone found him like this, lying so _uselessly_ in the middle of the road.

It’s not too bad, anyway, he thinks. The bricks underneath him are warm to the touch, but not too unpleasant that Scar feels like he’ll bake in the sunlight before he suffocates if he stays here. It’s peaceful.

Scar dozes off, the lack of oxygen already starting to get to him. It shouldn’t be long, now. He’ll respawn in his temporary bed on top of the cliff, and he can dive into the water right away. He’ll be _fine._

\----

Mumbo mutters to himself as he rounds the corner, making his way towards False’s _Warped Realm_ shop. He needs some spooky blocks for the build he’s planning, and he’ll bet that False has just the items he’s looking for. On his way there, however, he nearly trips over something- no, some _one._ Mumbo’s foot collides with the, the person? And he stumbles backwards, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. He manages to keep his balance, but his short lived pride quickly makes way for shock.

There’s a- there's a mermaid. A merman? On the ground. Blocking the path. He’s laying face down, with his head in his arms. What even... when- have these creatures always existed? Is this a hermit? Did Mumbo somehow not get the memo that one of his friends is a- a _merman?!_

Mumbo can’t help his eyes from wandering down to where the creature’s human torso shifts into fish scales. It’s mainly oranges, shifting from bright to a deeper orange when Mumbo moves his head. He’s got blue and green details as well, adorning the sides, and making up most of the color of the- of the _fins_ protruding from the sides and back as well. There’s- gosh. This is a _lot_ to take in. Is this someone’s idea of a halloween costume?

Who is it, anyway? Mumbo’s never been good with faces, and he’s _definitely_ never seen someone sporting a tail like this before, either. He looks back at the more human half of the person, noting that there’s fins protruding from his arms as well, and the way his webbed hands end in incredibly sharp claws. _Freaky._

It’s then that he recognizes that bright purple jacket and the blue sash underneath a pair of elytra wings.

“...Scar?” He says, and the figure, _Scar,_ stirs, and then looks up at him.

Mumbo meets his eyes, and where Scar’s widen in recognition, Mumbo’s widen in surprise. Where Scar’s eyes had once been solidly green, they’re now fading to a bright blue to the outside of his irises. 

“Oh! Mumbo! Hi there!” Scar hoists himself up on his arms.

“Wh- what is going on?” Mumbo asks. It feels like he isn’t processing this right. Like his brain is short-circuiting, somehow.

“Well, I’m stuck here, that’s what’s going on,” Scar replies helpfully.

Mumbo doesn’t understand. “You’re a... you’re a- a _merman?”_

Scar rolls his eyes. “Of course! Why do you think I had a pool installed into the diamond throne?”

“You had a _pool_ installed into the diamond throne?!”

Scar laughs, and Mumbo can see these- these _slits_ open up on the sides of his neck as he does so. Mumbo shudders at the sight, but stops himself when Scar begins to cough for a brief moment.

Then it finally hits Mumbo. Scar’s a _merman._ He’s stuck on land. He needs _water. Duh!_

“Should I... that’s bad, isn’t it? Do you need me to help you?”

“Yeah, I- I kinda need to get back into the water, which is the whole reason I’m stuck here in Aqua Scar mode in the first place, actually,” Scar laughs sheepishly.

He flops his tail up and then down again, uselessly. Demonstrating just how much his movement is limited, how _stuck_ he is on land.

Mumbo doesn’t question _why_ or _how_ or even _when,_ right now he just needs to help his friend. He steps closer, arms outstretched, but then freezes.

“What... how am I supposed to do this?” He asks.

“If you could carry me to the water that would be amazing,” Scar says. Mumbo notices how his eyes are starting to look a little glazed over.

“Okay. Alright, yeah, er...” Mumbo says. He racks his brain, trying to figure out a way to pick Scar up, somehow. He isn’t really sure how he’s going to be able to lift... _all that,_ but- he’s got to try, right? 

Scar rolls onto his back, ‘sitting’ up, leaning on his hands. His spine bends smoothly and Mumbo averts his eyes from it as much as he can, still not used to seeing Scar like this. 

“Well, help me up, then!” Scar laughs, one arm outstretched for Mumbo to grab.

Mumbo nods, and kicks himself into action. 

He puts one arm behind Scar’s back, underneath the elytra, and Scar locks his arms around Mumbo’s shoulders. He lifts his tail up slightly for Mumbo to put his arm underneath, and when he thinks he’s got a good enough grip, he lifts Scar up. 

Good grief, he’s _heavy._ When Mumbo looks down he sees that Scar’s tail still reaches the ground. He tries not to think about the way those scales feel against his hand, because there’s no time to waste! He takes a few steps towards the edge of the island, and Scar winces.

“Are you okay?” Mumbo asks, and Scar nods at him, smiling.

“Just getting a little woozy from the lack of oxygen, is all,” He says, his head resting against Mumbo’s chest.

Mumbo continues, and before he knows it Scar has his tail wrapped around him, holding on tighter. _Oh!_ Dragging it across the ground must hurt- Mumbo picks up his pace, climbing the nearby stairs with all his effort. Man, sometimes he wishes he did more building (as opposed to redstone) than he did.

When he finally reaches the top of the stairs, however, Mumbo groans internally. He realizes his mistake, now. He should have gone the other way. It’s not his fault the shopping district is so hard to navigate without an elytra!

They’re on top of a hill. A cliff, rather. There’s no way to let Scar slip into the water easily from here.

Scar eyes him curiously. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

“We’re at a cliff. I can’t drop you into the water safely from here,” Mumbo says.

“Nonsense, I’ll be fine,” Scar huffs.

“You can’t be serious! This is like twenty blocks up!” Mumbo protests.

Scar loosens his tail’s grip around Mumbo, going back to being carried almost bridal-style.

“It’s okay, Mumbo! Drop me,” He says.

“What?! That’s ridiculous! I can’t just-”

Scar rolls his eyes, and wriggles himself loose from Mumbo’s grip. He flops onto the ground, and Mumbo watches as Scar drags himself towards the edge of the cliff. Once there he winks, and pushes himself off.

Startled, Mumbo rushes to the edge, just about catching the splash of water below. 

He can barely see Scar from up here, though he can vaguely make out his figure shooting through the water. He actually looks quite graceful, Mumbo notices. So unlike the Scar he knows. Scar is always stumbling over his feet or awkwardly moving around with his elytra. Wait- is this why? _Is this why Scar always dies so much?!_

Then he sees Scar’s head poke out of the water, and moments later he jumps up like a dolphin, skillfully slipping into the water again. Mumbo catches a glimpse of his tail which somehow looks _even more_ brightly colored than before. 

“Like what you see?” Scar’s voice sounds from below, his laugh echoing against the cliffside.

Mumbo can’t help but laugh himself, as well. At the absurdity of it all. Hell, he just found out that mermen are real. He just found out that Scar _is_ one.

He just about catches Scar diving back into the water, his long and powerful tail sending a huge splash of water straight into Mumbo’s face. He jumps back, wiping it off with the sleeves of his jacket.

“Thanks, Mumbo!” Scar waves, and shoots off into the water, laughing.

Grumbling only half-annoyed, Mumbo makes his way back down the stairs. So much for trying to save a friend.

He’ll get him back, though. One day. Mumbo knows he will.

**Author's Note:**

> That feel when you find out one of your friends is a merman and he asks you to toss him off of a cliff into the water, am I right?
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! This has been a lot of fun to write! Huge thanks to the one and only NHO for all the help with this idea c:
> 
> Title from _Roll With It_ by TWRP!!


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